


The Final Battle

by Bloodism



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-12
Updated: 2013-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-19 05:32:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/880004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bloodism/pseuds/Bloodism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin Free and Michael Jones are both popular Youtubers and popular Tumblr bloggers. Their names are mentioned - together - all over the Internet. But for the wrong reasons. They hate each other.</p><p>Their battle is drawing in the attention of new fans - and other Youtubers. Roosterteeth pick up on these two hot-headed guys and bring them in when a spot opens up. The catch? Only one of them can get the job.</p><p>Both of them dedicated fans to Roosterteeth, they have to do a series of challenges and fight it out to get their dream job. It’s the final battle and it’s intense and exciting and… not quite going as planned.</p><p>[Inspired by this series of posts on Tumblr: http://goddamnitgavin.tumblr.com/tagged/tumblr-mavin]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Final Battle

Gavin Free has dreams.

It’d taken a while –  _Year 10, secondary school_  – but he’d gotten there. The moment he’d picked up that video camera, he fell in love. And technology. Oh, technology.

Computer games, the internet, blogs,  _everything._  Since the age of fourteen, that’s how he lived. That’s how he’s still living.

At home, with his family, twenty-three years old. He’s been on YouTube for six months and he’s gained four-hundred thousand subscribers. Not too shabby. It’s hard work. Dan – his best mate – had helped him at first, until he got called away to Afghanistan. Now he’s working alone.

It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s just… lonely.

Which is why he made a Tumblr blog. It seemed like a tiny part of the internet that hid away all of these people bursting with personality and it’s perfect. He can talk with people, read what they have to say, interact with them more directly.

Today, he settles himself down into his desk chair and leans backwards, waiting for the browser to load. Tumblr flickers up. Forty-five messages.

He opens the inbox, finger tapping in anticipation as it loads up.  _It’s gonna be there, isn’t it? It’s gonna be—_

_Fucker._

It’s anonymous – always anonymous – and it’s always five words: [‘Gavin Free is an idiot.’](http://gavinoslow.tumblr.com/post/55220688940/gavin-free-is-an-idiot)

He knows who it is.

He leans forwards, lets out a breath and types out his response. ‘[Michael Jones is a twat.](http://mogarjoness.tumblr.com/)’ He publishes it. It has nearly fifty likes in a few minutes, but he doesn’t bother reading the responses. He knows Michael’s liked it, and the fact he doesn’t retaliate sends a gristly chill up his spine.

Their fans know it’s not banter. They know it’s for real. It’d been going on for as long as they could remember. Gavin sighs, hauls himself out of his chair, and heads to the kitchen.

He thinks back.

-

How had it started? He doesn’t really know.

They started out at the same time, both became quite a big hit at the same time. Both joined Tumblr at the same time. Youtubers so in touch with their fans on Tumblr were rare – that was what brought their attention to each other.

An ask to Michael with a ‘Do you know Gavin Free?’. An ask to Gavin with a ‘Do you know Michael Jones? Did you see what he said about you?’

And then they were aware. Michael had replied with ‘No, I don’t know him. Seems a bit like a try-hard British douchebag’. Gavin had responded with ‘I have. Seems like your average American with his head up his arse.’

Michael caught wind of it and then their fans were overjoyed. Drama. Fun. They were constantly put against each other and eventually, it switched from playful little banter to harsh words and hatred.

Long after Gavin and Michael had removed their asks about each other, the battle continued.

It was amplified even more when they were pitted against each other for a spot on TheFineBros channel. Michael managed to seal the spot, only due to convenience. Gavin was willing to admit defeat… until Michael rubbed it in his face.

And then they were against each other  _again_ for a guest spot on a panel at VidCon. Gavin won. It was his turn to flash his victory.

And there.  It started. Childish, stupid hatred. Ironically, their battles made them even more popular. But that wasn’t what fuelled them.

It was war.

-

Michael sits back, looking at Gavin’s response.  _God, he got on his fucking nerves._

He wants to leave him alone. He wants this thing with Gavin to stop. But he just… he’ll be uploading a video to Youtube, or browsing through vids, and he’ll fucking be  _there._  Just his goofy face grinning at him from a thumbnail and he just wants to hit him. They’re both pushing five-hundred thousand subscribers and he knows there’ll be a big show-off when one of them gets it first.

He wants to be the one to rub Gavin’s nose in the dirt.

He feels like he puts more effort into his videos. He plays really hard games for hours, cuts them down to under thirty minutes and uploads them. Gavin just blows shit up in slow-motion.  _Ugh._

He sets up his mic in a fit of anger, clicks the record button and starts talking.

-

Gavin swipes away the paint on his labcoat and sets himself down at his desk. He clicks around, drags the video to YouTube and it starts to upload.

May as well check Tumblr while he’s waiting.

 _Oh._ Something’s happened.

That is a  _lot_ of asks.

He opens his inbox. All he sees is ‘video’ and ‘Michael’ and a slash of fire sears his chest. He opens up Michael’s YouTube and  _yep, he’s actually done it._

He clicks the video.

It’s only a minute long. A voiceover starts.

_“This guy, you might know him. He’s an asshole. And he’s British. He’s a British asshole. Know what else? He’s a fucking idiot.”_

Pictures start to flicker up on the screen. Michael’s photoshopped his face onto cartoon penises, donkeys and—

Jesus.  _Was he for real?_  The video ends with a clip of Michael sticking his middle finger up at the camera and Gavin clenches his jaw. He’s doing it for the fanservice. He knows. He’s dragging attention to their squabble in an attempt to suck in more subscribers.

He won’t let the fucker get away with it.

-

Michael can’t wait for the retaliation. It’s gotta be something big, because Gavin’s not said anything to him. He hasn’t got any asks with that ‘Gavin-y’ twist to them.

And then the messages start coming in. ‘ _You seen Gavin’s new video?’ ‘You guys are fucking hilarious.’ ‘Have you thought about teaming up for a Rage Quit? The fact you hate him would make it fucking hysterical.’ ‘I think I ship you guys after seeing Gavin’s vid.’_

_Oh, this is gonna be interesting._

He loads up Gavin’s new vid, titled ‘Michael Jones is a prick.’

It’s Gavin. He’s smiling at the camera, but it’s tight and angry. He moves out of the way and on the table is a vase… with Michael’s face on it. It’s not something Michael would find irritating – if he hadn’t used a picture of that  _one time_ he’d worn make-up in a livestream with a few fans, back in the day. Back when he didn’t have to worry about it coming to light.

Michael’s ecstatic mood slowly collapses. Gavin gives a thumbs up to the camera and gets out of there.

Then, close-up, in high-definition, the vase explodes.

And in that moment, so does Michael’s wall of anger.

-

Their rivalry just fuels a fire that refuses to go out. Their fame spurs from their hatred from each other and it just infuriates the both of them to indescribable limits.

But now, Gavin doesn’t have to worry.

His stomach’s still doing flips and he still hasn’t quite acknowledged the news floating around in his head. _Roosterteeth want to hire him._

Now, Roosterteeth, he’s been a fan of them since he knew what the internet  _was._ And they want him to fly over for an interview. He— _God,_ he’s too happy and giddy and the video that Michael did that morning isn’t even enough to bother him.

He keeps it a secret. He tells no one he’s leaving.

But before he leaves for the airport, he goes to Michael’s blog and leaves him an anon message.

‘ _You’re a bum. Good luck with your craphole of a channel.’_

-

Michael’s ecstatic. He’s flying on clouds and every now and then, he’ll screw up his face and just  _jig_ with excitement. He’s going to Texas. He’s off to visit Roosterteeth.  _The fucking gods of Youtube._

He’s been a fan since he was a kid. They were his escape from his sucky, going-nowhere life. And he’s about to fly there for an interview.

He ignores the messages in his askbox. He just goes straight to Gavin’s blog.

‘ _You’re dumb. Hope your channel flops and dies in a hole, like you should.’_

-

Burnie greets Gavin at the airport and when Gavin can eventually put together a decipherable sentence, Burnie laughs and claps him on the back.

“You’ll do good.”

Gavin thinks it’s going well. No dick-ups so far. Until he goes to get into Burnie’s car and falls arse over tit, head-butting the door on his way down. When Burnie’s finished laughing, he helps to pull him up.

“Oh, you’ll  _definitely_ do good.”

The drive back in the car is nerve-wracking, but Gavin opens up and suddenly he’s spewing nonsense. He’s talking about his work, about Roosterteeth, about  _everything_. Burnie just listens, eyes glistening and smile on his face. Apparently Gavin’s previous topple had gained approval.

When they get to the Roosterteeth office – Gavin’s controlling his jitters, only just – he scampers inside. Thankfully, Burnie misses the way he trips on the step. His knee meets the floor with a crunch and he groans, lifting his leg carefully and rubbing off the dirt.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

 _No._ That’s dread and ice and a familiar hatred spinning its way up his spine.  _He knows that voice._

When he raises his head, hand still resting on his aching knee, he makes eye contact with  _Michael sodding Jones._

Great.

-

Michael wishes he could stay sparky and put on a mask to show Burnie he’s not as much of an asshole as he really is. But it’s difficult when the bane of his existence is huddled on the floor, looking up at him with a clenched jaw and fiery eyes.

“It’s the prick.” Is all Gavin says.

Nice.

Burnie looks between the two of them. They’re too busy glaring to notice Geoff appearing next to Burnie.

“I take it you guys know each other?” There’s too much humour in Burnie’s voice and if that didn’t give it away, Geoff’s barely-muffled snorting does.

They turn their heads to stare at the two Roosterteeth employees.

“You—“

“—did this on purpose.” Gavin seems irked that he’d unintentionally finished Michael’s sentence, but he had, and it’s made Geoff laugh harder.

“You guys are shit hot on the internet right now. You come as a package deal, right?” Burnie says through undignified snickering.

“No!” They protest in unison. When they turn to glare at each other, Burnie finally gives in and lets out a laugh.

“Guys—Guys, come on. We got you here for a reason.” They ease up on the glaring and give their attention to Burnie. “We only got one spot free on the team, so—“ When he chokes on laughter, Geoff picks up, voice tight with restrained laughter.

“You two have to fight for the spot. We got some challenges lined up for you.”

If Michael’s mood wasn’t shot down before, it definitely is now.  _Douche move, Roosterteeth. Douche move._

The feeling’s clearly mutual on Gavin’s side. Finally, there’s something they have in common.

“Are you dicking us around?” Michael says, slightly more angrily than intended. Burnie isn’t fazed.

“Nope, no dicking. Just a fair, even war. Maybe you guys should make it the final battle, huh?”

When Gavin and Michael meet each other’s gazes again, fires ablaze, their irritation dwindles down. Ah, yes. That’s definitely it. The final battle. All the snide comments, all the fan’s provoking, all the immature videos and mindless hate. It’s gotta end.

_Bring it on._


End file.
